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GENOMIC AND PROTEOMIC APPROACHES TO DELINEATING EVOLUTIONARY DEVELOPMENT OF THE PLANT VASCULAR APPARATUS.  Aldwin M. Anterola, Laurence B. Davin and Norman G. Lewis  Institute of Biological Chemistry, Washington State University, Pullman, WA 99164-6340

     An essential element of vascular plant development involved the evolution of the phenylpropanoid pathway, particularly those branches affording lignins, (poly)lignans and suberins.  Metabolic flux and real-time PCR analyses as well as down-regulation of the various steps of the phenylpropanoid pathway and downstream coupling systems have recently revealed the presence of complex metabolic networks.  These, in turn, are involved in cellular, tissue and organ specific regulation of monolignol formation and its coupling.

     This paper summarizes our current knowledge of how these complex networks are organized, and how various perturbations lead to a loss of overall plant vascular integrity.